1. Reference to Related Case
This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to provisional application No. 61/315,385, filed on Mar. 18, 2010, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
2. Field of the Invention
A new design for an insert-molded transceiver body having metal heat sinks molded therein has fewer surfaces to seal, thereby preventing flash on the molded part. In particular, the transceiver body and its mold has a shut-off portion against the heat sinks to prevent flash during the molding process.
During the process of injection molding, a cavity is created for the plastic to fill. The cavity of the mold is closed and the filled with a polymer. If the cavity area is not adequately sealed, a thin web of polymer material will leak past the desired cavity area, resulting in flash. Flash is undesirable on parts as it can break off and cause debris problems or cause the injection molded part to be larger than the dimensions allowed. Some small gaps in the closed mold are permissible, but the size of those gaps that do not cause flash are dependent on the viscosity of the polymer.
Sometimes it is necessary to mold a polymer with an insert or component encapsulating (or being incapsulated by) the polymer. This is usually called insert-molding. The inserts are often made of metal, ceramics, or another polymer. To insert-mold a component, the mold cavity closes around the insert and the cavity is sealed around the insert. However, depending on the location of the insert within the molded piece (and therefore within the cavity), the tolerances of the insert may create gaps in the mold that are large enough to create flash. This may be even more prevalent when the insert is along one edge of the mold cavity. Thus, it may be difficult to insert-mold those inserts that are along an edge, and even more difficult when the insert forms one boundary of the insert-molded piece. When the insert forms one side of the insert-molded piece, the mold needs to seal against at least four sides (or surfaces) of the insert, and maybe more depending on the complexity of the piece. Thus, the mold needs to be designed to seal against those multiple surfaces of the insert. Typically, however, the insert used in the mold is not always perfect and has tolerances in its dimensions. This means that the insert may not exactly fit the mold and allow for gaps in the molding process, which leads to undesirable flash.